Squamish, August 13-23, 2004

As part of a yearly tradition, every summer my brother Fras and I have been getting together for a week long climbing trip.  Last year we spent the week sport climbing at Lions Head, Ontario, and this year the trip was to Squamish, with a bouldering focus.  Fras flew in to Vancouver on Friday, August 13, and I drove up from Seattle to pick him up.  After getting stuck in border traffic, I picked him up an hour late and we made a bee line for Squamish.  Upon our arrival in Squamish, we immediately took care of the things that needed to be done, that is, we went bouldering.

We first headed to the Black Dyke area to warm up, and did the Squamish Days (V0) and Squamish Days Traverse (V2) problems, followed by High V0 (V0).  We then did a fun V3 called American Gigalow, and then headed for the designated project: a classic V7 lip traverse called Baba Hari Dass, put up by Chris Sharma and named after his spiritual mentor.  This went well, Fras managed to send it, and I came pretty close, falling after the crux moves, and decided to return the next day to try again.  We them moved on to the Animal Magnetism area, where I sent the Sit Start to HolmBoy (V6), a longstanding project of mine.  We both did Up from the Depths, an aptly named V2 in this area.  Fras is shown on the problem below:



The next day we met up with Roanne and some friends from Seattle (Ryan and Andrew), and Roanne, Fras and myself went bouldering for the morning, with the plan of meeting up with Ryan and Andrew in the afternoon at Petrifying Wall in Murrin Park.

We did some warm ups around the Black Dyke area, including a V1 slab:



And Tims Sloper Problem (V5):



Next we headed over to Baba Hari Dass (V7), which Fras had sent the previous day, and I managed to send on my first attempt of the day!  I was really happy about that one, here are some photos of it.  It is a really nice looking line, a rising lip traverse on sloping holds and small edges.  First, preparing for the crux:



From another vantage point:



And finally, pushing out the mantel:



After this, we went and Fras and I both had some attempts on Gibbs Cave (V8).  He was very close to sending, falling on the last move, and I didn't even come close, but still had fun.  It is an awesome problem, planted firmly at the top of my long term tick list.  Here is me on the first move, which is a throw from some sloping edges under a steep face up to a good but small edge:



And here is Fras on the heinous slopers of the upper section:



Next we walked over to Tatonka (V8), a problem that Fras had sent on a previous trip, and that I wanted to try.  It is POWERFUL!  The crux is the first two moves, I tried them several times with not much success, and had more luck on the other moves, one of which is shown in this photo:



After this, we headed over to Murrin Park to meet up with Ryan and Andrew.  We had lunch, then went for a swim in the lake, then Fras and I went and looked at the boulders.

We found some cool stuff, including one really nice V2 called Prime Time.  It also had a sit start (V6), which both Fras and I tried and sent (a bit of soft touch for the grade), really fun, steep climbing with big reaches between good holds.  Below are pictures of Fras, and myself on the sit start:





And one of me on the final moves for the lip:



Roanne also had a few tries on the V2 stand up version, and vowed to come back the next day to settle her score with it.  We then went and did a route at Petrifying Wall, a super fun 5.11a called Pleasant Pheasant.  In the evening we headed over to the house of a friend named Heather McKanch who lives in Squamish (lucky girl!).

The next day Roanne, Fras, and I again started with some bouldering, with the plan of meeing Ryan and Andrew in the afternoon at Murrin Park.  I can't remember what we did, but we were both feeling pretty worked from the previous two days, so pretty soon we gave up and headed over to Murrin Park.  We did a few routes, Fras and I tried a 5.12a called Plumbline, but it was in the sun and felt really hard so neither of us sent it and we decided to move on.  I then tried and redpointed another 5.12a called Youth Gone Wild, much easier than the last one.  Ryan and Andrew were on a classic route called Burning Down the Couch (5.11d), here are some photos of Ryan sending it.  It was on my ticklist, until I saw the huge runout near the top.  Maybe when I am feeling strong and courageous I will do it.  The first one is a good shot of the entire Petrifying Wall, a really nice looking cliff:



The next one shows Ryan entering the crux section (I think) of Burning Down the Couch:



After this we were pretty much worked, but Roanne wanted to have another burn on Prime Time (V2), so we all headed over there.  Ryan and Andrew both made short work of the sit start, and Roanne pretty much sent the stand up version, the only blemish on this otherwise fine send was that her spotter (me) was being a bit aggressive, and may have taken a bit of her weight during the throw for the lip.  She manteled and finished it off in fine style, and will have to come back another day for the true send.  Here is a photo of her firing for the lip on one of her attempts:



After this, Ryan, Andrew and Roanne headed back to Seattle, and Fras and I headed for our campsite.

On Monday Fras and I were pretty sore and tired from bouldering the three previous days, so we decided to have a high mileage day on classic problems V3 and easier.

We started on a V1 in the Titanic area, then moved on to a V3 called Carpet Ride, which was pretty fun.  Fras is shown on the problem below:



Next we headed over to a good V2 called Double Decker, with an insecure mantle pretty high up.  Shown below is Fras contemplating, then sending:





Next we moved on to some problems in the Viper area, including an awesome V2 called White Bread, shown below, named for the loaf-like lump of rock which forms the key feature in the problem:



And two V3 slab problems called Young and Furious and Old and Serious.  Fras is shown sending the second of the two in the photo below:



Next I did a scary V2 slab problem called Left Rib, and we headed for the Lipsmack area.  Here we did an awesome V3 called Crackhead, which is shown in the photo below.  It starts at the back of a cave, and you climb out the roof crack and top out on the face (shown in the photo) with lots of oppurtunity for foot trickery.



Next we headed over to a V3 called Squamish Special.  This was truly a problem everyone should do.  It starts on a right sidepull and left sloper, then you throw left for another sloper, bear hugging the rock, then bump up your right hand, then toss for a sharp arete and finish up that.  Super classic squamish climbing, if you boulder and Squamish and don't do this problem, you should be ashamed of yourself.  It is also pretty hard for a V3, especially compared with some of the other stuff we did that day.  Shown below are shots of Fras and myself on this standout problem:





After this we did some other stuff, including a V2/3 called Mister Silk, a V3 called Angel on my Shoulder, and finished with a good V1 roof problem called Over the Top (shown below).



We then drove back to Seattle, since I had some school obligations to fulfill the following day.

On Tuesday we took a rest day, going to Pikes Place market and getting some fish to grill up.

On Wednesday we climbed at little Si, where Fras sampled some of the classics, including Rainy Day Woman and Propaganda.

Thursday morning we drove back up to Squamish, and spent the rest of the day bouldering.  We were not feeling as fresh as we had hoped to after two non-bouldering days, I guess working 5.12+ sport routes is not an ideal rest day activity.  Still, Fras managed to send Gibbs Cave (V8), and I tried Tatonka (V8) a bunch more, still getting shut down by the opening moves.  I had some attempts on a V6 called Pyramid Arete, shown in the two photos below.  It is an excellent problem, with fairly technical foot work.





Fras had a number of attempts on an awesome looking V7 called Anubis, in the Titanic area.  You pull on with some small holds at the edge of a roof, then make some slaps to a sloper at the other side of the roof, then hand foot match and make another powerful move to a rail.  Short and powerful, with really pure movement.  He didn't manage to send, and I couldn't even seem to pull off the ground on it, so we decided to come back to it when we were feeling a little more fresh.  The problem is shown in the photos below:





Friday we decided to go bouldering again for the morning, and then do some routes in the afternoon since we were both feeling pretty worked.  We started on some stuff in the Titanic area, Font Funk (V3) and some other stuff.  We were both feeling pretty tired from the previous days of climbing.  We then headed over to Pyramid Arete and I had some tries on that, coming close and working out some beta, but not feeling like I had enough juice to send.  Next we moved on to some other stuff, and then finished with Fras sending Hoop Wrangler, a cool looking V5 on the Octagon boulder (see photo below). 



In the afternoon we headed over to the Smoke Bluffs for some low key trad climbing.  We did Laughing Crack (5.7), Pixie Corner (5.8), Penny Lane (5.9), and Neat and Cool (5.10a), all super fun.  I didn't feel as bad at placing gear as I thought I would, and now I am eager to start doing more trad again in the near future.

Saturday we took a forced rest day, since it poured rain all day.  We spent the day sitting in the car reading, and sitting under the picnic shelter eating trail mix and playing back gammon.  You meet some interesting people hanging out on rest days.  There were some Germans who were talking about their friend back home who put beer on his cereal, and was afraid to lie on the beach since Green Peace might come and drag him out to sea (beached whale).  Then there were the two high school girls who visiting from Ontario.  They asked us if we had tried a route on the Cacademon boulder that Sonnie had put up last summer (oh, you dropped something, let me pick that name up for you).  They said that their friend was working on it, and when he got to the top they were going to start working on it on top rope.  The route they were talking about it is a 5.13c called Permanant Waves, put up in 1994 by Jim Sanford (not last summer by Sonnie Trotter, as our young name dropping acquaintances believed).  Even funnier, later we heard them talking about their bouldering projects for the next day, one was working Sloppy Poppy (V4), and the other was working Squamish Days Traverse (V2).  Hmm, if you can't send V2 and V4 boulder problems, what do you think your chances for success are on a 5.13c sport route?  Funny.

Sunday the weather looked to be clearing a little and it wasn't raining, so we eagerly headed into the boulders in search of dry problems.  We first headed for the Apron Talus, since it usually dries the fastest.  We did a few warm ups there, including The Sickle (V2), The Boot (V0), and Alien Within (V3).  We then tried a cool looking V6 called Gull Skull, which Fras is shown working below:



The move his is on is really long, then you match that sloping rail and move around the corner to top out on the arete.  We never sent it, and since the area increasingly had the ambience of a climbing gym with all the boulderers congregating on the most well known dry boulders, we moved on.  Next we headed to a super fun V4 called Shots Fired, right off highway 99.  It involved moves on good holds up an overhung arete, and was really good, although quite soft for the grade.  Below are some photos:





Next we moved on to a good V6 dyno problem called Recoil.  Also very soft for the grade, it felt more like a V4 at the most.  If you are looking to climb your first V6, this is where to go!



Next we headed up to Pyramid Arete (V6), and feeling fresh, I was able to send in a few tries.  We then moved on to Anubis (V7), to see if it was dry, but the starting holds were pretty wet, so we dried them with a shirt and vowed to return later in the day.  From there we moved on to Tims Sloper Problem (V5), which Fras quickly dispatched, along with Thighmaster (V4).  From there we headed to the Viper (V5), which I have been trying for at least two years now.  It has the ability to completely shut me down.  It is such an awesome looking problem that I can't stop myself from trying.  Sometime it will go down.  I have now done three Squamish V7s and a bunch of V6s, but have still never done the first move on the Viper, which is apparantly V5.  Maybe I suck at pinching (a prerequisite for the problem) or maybe I suck at problems named after snakes, but I will get you one day, Viper. 

Next we headed to a V3 slab problem called Young and Furious with some spooky balancy moves high up on it, made even spookier by the slightly wet holds:



After that we moved on to a nice V3 traverse in the Octagon area called On the Rocks.  It started on big holds on the right, and then moved across the boulder to top out on the left end:



Next we moved on to a classic V5 called Swank Stretch, which I had tried with no success last summer.  It involved starting on a jug, then moving up into some finger tip slots (easier if you have smaller fingers), then making a big move out to an edge and topping out on good holds.  I felt pretty good on it, and managed to send after several attempts, the successful one is shown in the photo below:


* thanks to SLC Chris for sharpening up this photo using his image editing software!

Next we headed back over to Anubis (V7), which was pretty dry by now.  Fras tried it with a friend named Dane who we had met there.  Dane used a different part of a sloper for the second tough move on it that made it a lot easier.  First Fras sent it, and Dane followed suit.  I had not even been planning on attempting it, since last time I felt like I couldn't even pull off the ground, but Dane made the second move look pretty smooth, so I thought I might as well give it a go, and I managed to send on my third attempt!  I was stoked beyond comprehension, it was a totally unexpected send.  Probably the most skin of the teeth send I have ever done, on the first hard move out to a sloper on the other side of a roof I just barely held it with three fingers, and somehow managed to do the next move and then hang on for the topout.

Next we went up to Timeless, a classic V4 which Fras sent with some new beta supplied by Dane:



We then started heading for some other problems, but on the way Fras slipped on a wet rock and sprained his ankle.  It was pretty scary, he heard a loud pop when he did it, and thought he had broken it.  I gave him a piggy back out of the forest while Dane took the mats back to our campsite for us (thanks Dane!), and we went to the Squamish Hospital.  Luckily it turned out to be badly sprained instead of broken.  We then headed to the Brew Pub for some wild game burgers and beer to celebrate a great trip, marred only by Fras twisting his ankle.  We consoled ourselves by theorizing that maybe it was divine intervention, and if he hadn't sprained his ankle he would have pulled a tendon on the next problem.  Anyways, it could have been worse, and if I know Fras he will be hitting the campus board in Hamilton before the week is out.

Monday it was pouring rain again, and so we headed into Vancouver for a stop at the MEC before it was time for Fras to board his plane home for Toronto.  All in all a great trip, and hopefully Fras's sprained ankle will recover soon so he can start sending hard at the glen again!